


You make my eyes burn

by vermicious_knid



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Swan Lake & Related Fandoms, Swan Princess (1994)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-21
Updated: 2014-03-21
Packaged: 2018-01-16 12:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1347649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vermicious_knid/pseuds/vermicious_knid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Swan lake/Swan princess fic set in Storybrooke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You make my eyes burn

She dreams of feathers, sometimes. That she’s lying down in a whole heap of them, like a nest – staring up into an evening sky. Sometimes, something like a hand flutters at her cheek except she’s never sure if it’s a hand or a wing of some kind. Brittle and thin like a twig.

She knows it’s weird. It’s not a terribly odd thing to dream about of all things though, and it I’s not exactly a frightening dream – but it always leaves her with a strange sort of hollow feeling in her chest when she wakes up.

Odette isn’t particularly different than most teenage girls in Storybrooke, going to high school and hanging out with girlfriends at granny’s talking about boys and what to wear to the next spring formal. She was one of many girls who took dance classes at the local gym, and sometimes she helps Belle French at the library during weekends or after school, even though she isn’t particularly fond of books herself, something about the dust she says. She has inherited her mothers wild red hair, which on a good day (and there were few of those) could be compared to bright fiery flames when sunlight hit it just right, and all other days she just looked like a messy carrot top. The fire in her hair however, did not match her personality so much. Always soft spoken and shy in class – and even though at a glance she may have seemed as happy go lucky as the rest of the girls here, she could often turn solemn and she seemed far away. What she thought of though, was as good as anyone's guess. She seemed torn, people would say.

Her father, William, worked as a history teacher at the school – which had it’s ups and downs. One of the downs was that she could never get away with flunking from school – not even on the days they had chemistry with professor Laundum. Those days were as bad as the seven levels of hell, she thought.

Odette wasn’t much for studying to begin with, but chemistry? Forget about it.

“I won’t go.” Her muffled voice said from under the duvet of her bed.

“I’m not saying it again Odette! ” Her dad hollored from the doorway.

“I’m terribly sick – I think I’ve got the measles.” She muttered, trying in vain to sound poorly. Of course her dad was used to this and would have none of it.

“You’ve already had the measles when you were 5 – now get up and get dressed you hear?”

And after letting out a guttural groan of protest, she threw back the covers and slowly got out of bed. What was the point of delaying the inevitable anyway? Now here she was, together with a still sleepy bunch of students – not so eagerly awaiting the arrival of their teacher for the first lesson of the day. As the clock ticked closer and closer to 8:10 am, Odette shifted the grey scarf around her neck (the classrooms were cold during this time of year) and popped a green lollipop into her mouth in order to stay awake. She started looking through her notebooks, preparing a little and looking up what pages they were supposed to have read for today (as she had once again “forgotten” to read) when she noticed that people had stopped talking and started whispering. She looked up from her books to see what was going on, when she noticed that their chemistry professor had yet to appear – and the clock said 8:15 am.

“He’s late. He’s never late.” Someone whispered behind her.

“Maybe he went off and croaked!” someone else joyfully exclaimed.

“Does this mean we won’t have to take the test? Please let this mean we don’t have to take the test!” a third voice chimed in pleadingly.

She glanced out the little window of the classroom door from where she was sitting, noticing the principal talking to someone she could not see, as his back was turned to her. Whoever it was though, the principal didn’t seem to like him – judging by his red face and crinkled brow. Then finally the door opened and the principal briskly walked in, sour faced and aggravated. He came to stand infront of the teachers desk – looking out at all of them like they were to blame for his misfortune.

“Listen up, all of you. Mr. Laundum has for personal reasons left to take a break from his position-“ As if on cue, loud cheers erupted from the students.

“Quiet! From now on, you’ll have a substitute teacher until Professor Laundum is feeling better.. _which we all hope better be soon_ … stay in your seats as he will be along shortly. ”

Then he promptly left the room in a hurry, almost slamming the door behind him.

“geez, what crawled up his ass and died?” a girl wondered aloud – probably voicing what many students in the room were already thinking while Odette watched the door with a confused frown on her face. Well, stranger things had happened in storybrooke. Much stranger things. She popped the lollipop back into her mouth and started on a nice doodle of a duck carrying a basket of muffins, becoming so immersed in her masterpiece that noises around her diminished until there was only silence. She ought to be happy that Laundum wasn’t there to teach (harress) them. Just as she was starting on duck number two, she was startled when somebody snatched the lollipop right out of her mouth.

“Hey!” she exclaimed and looked up to see who the hell had the nerve to pull such a thing and just as she was going to demand it back she froze.

Her eyes landed on the strangest man she had ever laid eyes on. He was standing while leaning forward over her desk with one hand flat on it’s surface while the other held her precious candy in front of him – as if taunting her with it.

The strangest thing was she couldn't help but think _well, that's not new._

His greying brown hair was long and looked unkempt. His clothes were curiously shabby and bohemian, like he just came in from sleeping on the side of the street. He wore a long woolen coat, the same shade as molten earth – fraying on the hem. But those eyes, his eyes were fixed intently on her face, filled with mirth and some sort of manic _joy_. They could be described as being the same color of chocolate, but it would be a lie.  These eyes were not so sweet as chocolate at all. They were large too, almost too large for his head it seemed. She just sat there, stunned.

“Wha-“ He smirked at her, then adopted a mocking sort of scolding tone to his voice as he rolled his eyes theatrically.

“No food in class, missy.” Was all he said before turning around and putting that same damn lollipop into his own mouth. Odette didn’t know whether to laugh or cry out with rage as he stretched his arms behind his back and cracked it before he suddenly turned around to face them all, his coat following the movement like a hero’s unwashed cape.

“I’m going to be substituting your lovely teacher while he is away on holiday – you know who I am? Well, my name is Jacques Hibou.” He went over to the white board and spelled out his name across it in a haphazard scrawl and then tapped his pen against it, as if underlining it. Then he turned towards them again and began pacing between their desks while talking, as if standing still was too hard a task. When he swept past she could catch the reek of alcohol and week old grime. There was another smell that almost painted a memory, or it reminded her of something.

“So , Professor Laundeum informed me you had a test today is that right?” he asked. The class begrudgingly admitted that yes, this was so.

“And I suppose, now that he is no longer here you are hoping you’d escape all that?”

Again, the class murmured that they had indeed hoped.

“Well you got your wish, the test IS canceled-“ Just as the class started erupting in cheers again, “- so instead what we’re going to do is to revise everything you’ve learned so far this semester. I’m going to be asking all of you questions from the material you should have studied and if you answer correctly you’ll get an A.”

A somber sort of silence fell over the classroom, some faces draining of all color while others just glowered at the absolute asshole that was their new teacher as he slowly walked around them, drinking in their terrified silence. Then he stopped, smirked and continued:

“And if you fail to answer me, you’ll get a D. Simple enough, isn’t it?” he asked jovially, looking for all the world like he just suggested a stroll in the park.

 _He’s absolutely crazy_ , Odette thought. Then his eyes met hers again, as if he’d heard her. His eyes held something crazy too, something too restless, his pupils small as pinpricks. For some reason, the way he was looking at her made her think he wasn’t a teacher at all. Like it was all a show he was putting on.

But why?

His head cocked to the side curiously, while he swirled the lollipop around in his mouth. _Her_ lollipop thank you very much.

“What?” She almost snapped, not liking the way he was looking at her.

“Not thinking about escaping are you?” he asked, and the students expectantly sniggered in response.

“Why no, not at _all_.” She said, quietly seething and eyes still narrowed in suspicion at this strange new “teacher”. She may have been known as the shy and modest type, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t speak up for herself.

“Well that’s wonderful, just wonderful. Now – let’s get started!”

Suffice to say, that particular chemistry lesson left a lot of students in a great frenzy to study and others flocking to the school therapist. When the principal would hear about it later on, he’d made it clear that none of the substitute teachers could actually fail any students in said subject without question – meaning that Mr. Hibou had been screwing with them all along to shake things up a bit. It caused quite a stir among the parents and the school faculty. And oh, for some reason he just loved humiliating Odette at every possible turn. After their second nightmare class of chemistry with who now everyone called “mr. hobo” ended, and Odette was just a foot out the door she heard him whistle behind her.

Lucky for him it wasn’t a wolf whistle. She turned around and saw him perched on the desk and head down studying some papers (he was wearing spectacles today) – but one hand was making a beckoning gesture for her to come forward. Like how you’d get the attention of a diner waitress or some small defenseless pet. She scrunched up her nose and crossed her arms, before tentatively going back into the classroom.

She frowned because she knew she would not like what he had to say to her. Needless to say, she’d not been able to pass muster as a good chemistry student at all so far. There was also this weird unsettling feeling tugging at the back of her mind, at the prospect of spending time alone with this man.

“Look, before you say anything – I know I’m not a genius. Just tell me what I can do so I can at least pass with a C or something.” She muttered.

Without looking up he tutted at her like she was a misbehaving child.

“Such low standards ? I don’t think it would please your father much either…”

“Well what do you suppose I do about it then? Like I said, I’m not that bright in the first place…” He surprised her then by glancing up at her sharply, gaze dark.

“Who says so?” he asked, or rather interrogated. It made her confused, and weirdly anxious. She shrugged her shoulders awkwardly and didn’t meet his eyes as she replied.

“No one I suppose, but – “

“Then this is what I suggest – “ He stood up, and she observed how he braced his callused hands on the desk, spreading them out across the papers like how shadows wrapped around objects. He carried three identical looking metal rings on both hands, encased with dirt and strange symbols carved into them. Seeing them up close she couldn’t help but stare at them in fascination, but quickly looked away when she realized that he was waiting for her to meet his eyes.

“ Come here after classes are let out, Tuesdays and Fridays – and you’ll let me tutor you.” Odette leaned back and stared at him like he’d grown an extra head, then she choked out a laugh. Well, she certainly had not been expecting that.

“You will tutor ME? But.. you don’t like me, you hate me!” He sighed and laughed a little manically, his eyes looked tired.

“ What can I say, I am a martyr for helping the illiterate. “ Well, she thought, at least it would save my father a heart attack when he sees my report card. But she still wasn’t buying it though, didn’t trust this man one bit. There was something too familiar about him.

“And you’ll do it for free, nothing in exchange? “ she asked, skeptical. She was thinking about all those stories about young naïve students who gave a little something just so their grades could be raised a little. She may not be the brightest girl, but she certainly wasn’t stupid.

“Just your pleasant company, I assure you. Let everyone know who tutors you dear, if that would make you feel more secure.”

“And who is tutoring me exactly? “ she asked him, her eyes on him wide and searching. And there was a silence there, where his eyes looked inward towards something deep and horrible, and when they glanced down at her pale hands it was towards something like love.

“Why, no one of course.”

“No one.” She says, and it feels like a vow.

 

 


End file.
